


there's more than one way to love

by leviadrache



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: M/M, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-21
Packaged: 2018-05-08 01:10:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5477528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leviadrache/pseuds/leviadrache
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stories about Gaillard and Kai's life in France, or the reasons why someone would date the person they hate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

He hates Kai.

Sure, he knows Kai, knows him well enough to realize how stupid it is to hope for Kai to ever care about someone but himself. But somehow Gaillard just can't help it. It's easier, maybe, to simply blame Kai for being, well, for being  _Kai_. It's easier to remember Kai's mistakes than to actually think about what is wrong with them.

But they're sort-of-dating, which might be the source of Gaillard's grief. It's Kai's damn job to stop being a fucking one man show, one could say. Kai's job to care about him, or at least pretend he does. This thought sounds so funny in his head, because if there's one thing Gaillard honestly has always appreciated about Kai, it's that Kai doesn't bother to pretend. Kai is a selfish asshole who doesn't seem to realize – or maybe simply refuses to acknowledge – that other people have feelings too. But the things Kai says and does, they are real.

Because someone as ruthless and tactless as Kai would never, never ever consider the feeling of someone else as important enough to make them feel better by telling them lies. Someone who tries to phrase it as a compliment would probably call Kai an honest person.

It's not a bad quality, Gaillard thinks. But Kai seems to be the person who can even turn a truly good trait into something annoying.

"Why do you date him if you hate him so much?" Nicholas asks one evening. They're hanging out at the orphanage. Gaillard likes to visit them, once or twice each week, always eager to hear what's going on in the lives of his siblings. Plus he believes there's only a limited numbers of evenings one can spend with sitting around in silence with Kai without going crazy.

Nicholas is one of the few kids around Gaillard's age here. A year older, actually. Sort of too old to stay there, but no one has ever bothered to tell him to leave. Back when they were kids, Gaillard helped Nicholas against some bullies, but by now Nicholas is more than capable to take care of himself. He wears glasses now and, what he always likes to stress, is more than a tad taller than Gaillard. But he still looks like he used to when they were kids. The same curly hair and always with a curious expression on his face. Though right now, Gaillard can see just a hint of impatience on Nicholas face.

"Who knows," Gaillard dodges the question. He isn't exactly  _eager_  to tell anyone about the details of his relationship with Kai Toshiki. It's one of the few similarities between the two of them. Though to be fair, Kai usually doesn't talk about anything that's going on inside his head. Meanwhile Gaillard normally tells his siblings about his life and so on. It really feels weird to  _not_  tell them something, but, uhm, well.

Nicholas looks at him for a long moment before he sighs. He puts his hand on Gaillard's shoulder and smiles. "You know, you should remember that you can always count on me, bro!"

Gaillard walks back home later that evening. The streets of Paris are lively as usual, but he really can't be bothered to use the Metro. It's not like he can't afford to buy the ticket, but he seriously doesn't feel like paying to sit in a crowded and small train. The cold air outside is refreshing.

At home Kai has already prepared dinner. A ridiculous image enters Gaillard's mind. To get a welcome home kiss, a warm greeting and maybe a smile from his, well, his  _sort-of-boyfriend_. A simple look from Kai and silence is all there is.

He wonders if Nicholas would know about this. If he can tell how exhausting it is to deal with Kai. Because Kai is like a fire that consumes whatever gets close to it, destroys it until there's nothing left besides ash. Not exactly some good boyfriend material, to summarize. It's almost  _unhealthy_  to spend too much time around Kai Toshiki, Gaillard thinks as he takes off his jacket and shoes and steps into the kitchen.

They keep a casual conversation through dinner. Kai tells him about some opponents he fought in Lyon some days ago and Gaillard tells him to stop wasting their money on all those trips. After dinner they settle down on the living room couch. The evening passes the same way it did back in the days when they weren't  _dating_. Only then Kai mentions he wants to catch a flight to Yale sometime next week.

"You can't afford that," Gaillard sighs, can't really bother to keep the annoyance out of his voice. "You'll get kicked out of the university if you continue to skip classes."

Kai doesn't reply and keeps playing something on his phone instead. Determination and stubbornness are visible on his face, showing he does not care at all about Gaillard's words. "I want to fight Aichi," is all the reply Gaillard gets.

"Are you kidding me? So you'll just fly across the damn ocean every time you feel like you want to fight Aichi?"

He takes Kai's silence as a yes, and clenches his fist. One second he knows his body got up from the armchair he sat in and the next second he finds himself punching Kai Toshiki. "Can't you just act like a fucking normal human being for once?!"

Kai doesn't even flinch. "Has Aichi ever invited you over?" he asks instead. Within seconds he receives a punch on the other side of his face. And it's just ridiculous, really. Because Gaillard wouldn't just go ahead and get violent if he didn't know that Kai doesn't mind. But it's also truly frustrating to see Kai completely unaffected. To see how Kai can care so less when Gaillard is just an inch away from breaking some of Kai's possessions – a scenario that has already occurred more than once during their past fights.

"I'm guessing that means 'no'," Kai states businesslike.

Gaillard definitely considers to throw Kai's deck out of the window, but instead he relaxes his fingers and tries to keep his voice under control. "I won't buy a plane ticket to the US for you."

"Afraid I'll do  _this_  to Aichi?" Kai asks and before Gaillard has a chance to ask what he means, Kai pulls him down to the couch, presses his lips violently on Gaillard's. Kai gets a reply quickly. Gaillard's hands find their way to Kai's chest and grab the fabric of his shirt to push him back against the armrest of their couch. Not that Kai surrenders. He's too stubborn to know how to spell that word. No, he pushes back, moves his lips harder against Gaillard's and pulls his hair. Talk about romance, huh?

Sometime later Gaillard remembers Nicholas' words again, wonders about if and how he can ever tell his sibling what it truly means to  _date_  Kai Toshiki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's not the 21st here yet and this isn't the thing i wrote for gaillard's bd. i'll post that one on tomorrow, but i needed to post this chapter first lmao. hope you enjoyed the hatemance


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kai gets invited to dinner by Gaillard. Suspicious, huh?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yooo happy birthday to my favourite gold paladin loser

Gaillard invites him to a restaurant. Its name doesn't sound like anything special. Neither does it seem to be one of those fancy French restaurants, but simply the invitation is enough to make Kai wonder about his intentions.

Since it's close to Christmas, the invitation seems even more confusing, because most people are stressed with buying the last gifts and preparing for the holiday. He hasn't seen Gaillard buy any presents up to now, so he wonders how Gaillard has time for something random as this.

But Gaillard seems to be serious about the invitation. He kept talking about it the last few days, to make sure Kai won't forget their date. Hell, he even wrote a small note on the calendar in the kitchen, although neither of them has written anything on it for the whole year. Because Kai mostly refuses to make more than one appointment for a week and Gaillard uses his phone to keep track of his appointments at work and whatever else he does.

Just yesterday during dinner, he fumbled around with his cutlery and asked, "you didn't forget about tomorrow, did you?"

Not that Kai honestly cares about knowing what happens in the head of his room mate. It's just a little weird. On the way to the restaurant, he can't help but notice the small smile on Gaillard's face from the passenger seat. Really, just the fact that he hums along to the songs on the radio says everything.

The restaurant, just like its name, doesn't look too flashy or too fancy from the outside. An American steak house, as all the dishes he can see on the board in front of the door are just various types of steaks with English names. Gaillard walks towards the door and holds it open for Kai. He notices how Gaillard's attire doesn't look much out of place here. Most of the other people are dressed similar and it turns out that despite Kai's first impression, this is a rather expensive place to eat.

Kai stops right in front of the entrance to take in the whole place, how it gives off both the feeling of an exclusive restaurant and the atmosphere of a casual hamburger booth. Gaillard walks towards a table with two chairs and gestures Kai to follow him.

"You were blocking the way," he says, as he pulls back a chair for Kai and the hums. "Take a seat,  _darling_."

Kai looks at him, doesn't glare, just stares. It earns him a light laugh and Gaillard shakes his head before he lets go of the chair he offered Kai to step to the other side of the table and sit down on the other chair.

"You seem awfully cheerful today."

"Oh, do I?" Gaillard asks and his smile widens. "Can't I be happy that you finally gave me a chance to take you out?"

Of course, Kai doesn't buy the excuse, but he doesn't really know what to say, so he settles with silence. Though Gaillard seems to take that as a sign of surrender. It leaves a bad taste on his tongue to see the grin that just won't fade from Gaillard's face today.

A waiter soon brings two menus for them and Kai's suspicion turns out to be true. It really is an expensive restaurant. Most dishes cost about twenty or thirty Euro and he gets more and more puzzled how Gaillard would take him to a place like this. His room mate usually hates to spend too much money for no reason. Probably something he learned from growing up in an orphanage. It doesn't make sense he would invite Kai to a place where a glass of water costs three Euro.

It's hard for Kai to decide on a meal he wants to order. Not that he dislikes Western kitchen, he has to admit he quite little fond of it. When he cooks, he cares a lot about accuracy, makes sure everything is just the way he likes it, double checks the seasoning to be certain it rounds out the dish properly. But one needs to taste different dishes to get better and he won't get any chance to eat at a place like this any time soon, so he has to choose carefully.

The waiter is back way too soon for Kai's taste. He says something in quick French Kai can't understand, but it's not hard to figure out that he asks for their order. The question seems to be mostly directed at Gaillard who already finished looking at the menu and doesn't have any problems to keep up with the quick French. But Gaillard looks at Kai expectantly. "Decided what you want?"

Kai raises an eyebrow at him, but simply points at one of the dishes on the menu that caught his attention. A beef steak with some vegetables, a baked potatoes and sour cream. He doesn't understand what Gaillard orders and honestly doesn't care much either. After waiter left Gaillard pulls out his phone.

"You're getting quite a lot of texts," Kai comments, because the phone kept ringing non-stop in the car.

"Oh, is that so," Gaillard trails off, but quickly puts the phone back into the pocket of his jacket. "How's college by the way?"

It's not exactly a topic Kai wants to talk about, Gaillard knows that and yet he gives Kai this overly polite look. As if either of them actually cares about some small talk. And really, all those polite gestures from Gaillard are starting to piss Kai off. Is there any special occasion Kai forgot about? Maybe Gaillard's just pleased with him because he gave up on his plans to go to Yale? Or there's a sale at this restaurant just for today?

No, he hasn't seen any adds for any campaign here and he would know if anything special happened today. So perhaps Gaillard really is just happy Kai listened to him and decided to give him a treat for once. Sounds plausible, although Kai doesn't really like the idea of being treated like a kid. Just then Gaillard tries to start conversation again.

"You don't look bad today."

"Huh?"

"I've seen worse things in your wardrobe."

"For example as bad as the rags you always wear?" Kai shoots back, but then realizes that Gaillard has dressed up for today. White shirt, blue jacket and a red scarf. For once, something that doesn't look like rags.

Instead of returning the  _compliment_ , Gaillard shakes his head. "I love you too, dear."

Soon, someone brings their food and Kai figures out that he did order something good. It's cooked well and leaves a nice taste on his tongue. Gaillard seems busy with his food as well, stopped trying to talk about uninteresting stuff.

\---

Later that evening Kai sits on their bed while Gaillard is in the bath, taking a shower. He'd sleep but he still has to brush his teeth and so he has to bear with waiting. There's nothing to do for him, but maybe he could go through his deck. It's always soothing to look at his cards and think about the best way to use them in fights. It is on the night stand right next to him. As he reaches for it, he notices Gaillard's license fell out of his purse.

"The bath's free now!"

"You didn't mention it's your birthday today."

"Huh?" Gaillard gives him a puzzled look as he closes the door to the bathroom with his foot.

"Is that why we went out? You should have said something."

Kai might not be the best when it comes to relationships or communication, but even he can tell that this is something Gaillard should have mentioned.

"It's not that important," his  _fucking boyfriend_ replies and Kai raises an eyebrow.

Well, okay, sure, maybe the two of them aren't the type of couple to celebrate birthdays together. He remembers his own birthday back in August. They have been fighting the whole week and on the morning of his birthday, Gaillard just dropped a bunch of rotten flowers on Kai's to wake him up. Though they did make up afterwards. Or, to be more accurate, fucked in the kitchen. Anyhow.

"Funny that you wanted to spend the day with somebody like me then. Why didn't you invite anyone else?"

Gaillard shrugs, shoves his hands into his pockets and looks at the ceiling. "Thought you'd need some company before the holidays. You know, I'll stay at the orphanage for the next few days. By the way, there should be enough groceries left in the kitchen for you to survive this week."

Kai laughs dryly. "That almost sounds like you're  _worried_  about me."

Gaillard rolls his eyes, before he basically drops his body onto the bed next to Kai and leans closer.

"Since you figured it out anyway, why not try and give me a cheap and improvised present?"


End file.
